Following the abandonment of Saturday’s action at Doncaster and Newbury, Cheltenham finds itself at the centre of attention a month earlier than normal. The jumps track provides a fascinating card of tricky handicaps, from which Duke Of Navan (3.10) may emerge as the best bet.
Nicky Richards’s veteran has not achieved the heights that seemed likely when he won the Morebattle Hurdle six years ago but is very useful on his day. He was beaten by a head in this race last year by Modus and no rival of that quality faces him this time, while he gets to run from the same rating. A strong pace seems assured, with Saint Calvados and the newly visored Gino Trail in the line-up, so this might pan out very nicely for Duke Of Navan, a strong-travelling, hold-up type.
While he goes south to Cheltenham, there is a competitive card at his old stamping ground of Kelso, from where ITV4 will screen four races to fill the spaces left by the abandoned Flat racing. Cheltenham’s TV races will start five minutes later than the scheduled off-times.
1.50 Kelso The Borders track will provide the best of today’s ground after just 3mm of overnight rain and with a dry afternoon expected. This novice handicap chase looks the best chance yet for Warendorf, who was outclassed in the Wetherby race won by Sam Spinner 10 days ago. He won a Galway point to point last year, though he was later disqualified over a finding of cobalt. Having since joined Stuart Coltherd, he showed very little over hurdles last winter but starts fencing off a modest rating. He will need further in time.
2.00 Cheltenham With the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard in its usual excellent autumn form, Cogry makes plenty of appeal at a track where he has three wins to his name, including in this race two years back. He came up short by a neck in last year’s renewal, beaten by a well handicapped rival. The opposition looks stronger in numbers than in depth.
2.25 Kelso It has been a disappointing career so far for Skyhill but this full brother to the useful Annie Mc responded well to the fitting of a hood when second of 13 over hurdles here three weeks ago. He could progress again for this switch to fences and gets a lot of weight from the Lucinda Russell pair, Katalystic and Prince Dundee.
2.35 Cheltenham The five-length Chepstow success achieved by Torpillo a fortnight ago counts as the best form on offer. Quel Destin will be sharper for a spin on the Flat at Bath recently but he looked a bit ponderous that day.
3.00 Kelso Twiston-Davies has a 25% record when sending his runners on the 300-mile journey here from his Gloucestershire base and his Blue Flight could be able to score on this first run since April. He produced form figures of 112 on three visits here in the spring and could well have a fitness edge on these rivals, given the strong form of his stablemates. One For Arthur surely has the Grand National as his only major target for the season, so can only be watched for now. Kim Bailey’s Dandy Dan won this last year but beat only three rivals, is a stone higher and hasn’t had the benefit of a previous run this time.
3.35 Kelso A son of Shamardal, the 10-1 shot Think Ahead will be thankful the ground has not gone soft. He’s been raised for his last-time-out success at Cartmel but remains 12lb below his peak rating and should be competitive under the 7lb claimer Charlotte Jones, who delivered a good ride on a winner for the same stable in a big field at Carlisle this week.
3.45 Cheltenham Steeplechasing did not work out for Gunfleet last term but he has potential from this handicap mark over the smaller obstacles. There was something to like about his return to action, when fourth behind a stablemate at Stratford.
Kelso 1.15 Highway Companion 1.50 Warendorf 2.25 Skyhill 3.00 Blue Flight 3.35 Think Ahead 4.10 Treshnish 4.40 Aptly Put 5.15 Get Help
Cheltenham 2.00 Cogry (nb) 2.35 Torpillo 3.10 Duke Of Navan 3.45 Gunfleet 4.20 The Butcher Said 4.55 Secret Investor 5.30 The Newest One
Chelmsford 4.50 Lyricist Voice 5.25 So Claire 6.00 Camelot Rakti 6.30 Filles De Fleur 7.00 Good Luck Fox 7.30 Midport 8.00 Edinburgh Castle 8.30 Tops No
Newbury Abandoned - waterlogging
Doncaster Abandoned - waterlogging
Al Dancer puts down Cheltenham Festival marker
Winter officially started at midday here on Friday, as Cheltenham opened its doors and set the clock ticking down towards the National Hunt Festival in March, and Al Dancer was the first horse to put down a serious marker before the championship event in five months’ time with a winning debut over fences in the card’s two-mile novice chase.
The third fence nearly brought Al Dancer’s afternoon to a premature end, but he survived a serious mistake there and was much more fluent over the remaining obstacles on the way to a four-length win.
“There was just one slightly noticeable sketchy jump,” Nigel Twiston-Davies, Al Dancer’s trainer, said. “A faster pace would suit him and he will improve for this. It’s only three weeks [to the next meeting at Cheltenham] so something like that [the Henry VIII Novice Chase at Sandown in December] would be a good target.”
Al Dancer was available at 33‑1 for the Arkle Trophy on Thursday night but is now top-priced at 14-1 second-favourite behind Willie Mullins’s Melon.
